BEL AIR, Md., October 18, 2022 – The two teams that will square off for a Region Championship next weekend went head-to-head Friday evening at Harford Community College's APG Federal Credit Union Arena, seeing the Monroe College Mustangs women's volleyball team defeat the host Fighting Owls in three sets. The Mustangs improve to 26-6 overall with their 12th straight victory, while Harford drops to 12-6.
The first set got off to a close start, with the Fighting Owls jumping ahead, 4-3. The Mustangs then took control, going on a 13-4 run to take a 17-7 edge. After the Fighting Owls got within eight at 19-11, the Mustangs rattled off the final six points of the set to grab a 25-11 win.
The Mustangs rode the momentum of the opening frame to take a 7-0 lead early in the second. Harford rallied to get within four at 11-7, but Monroe turned that around with an 8-1 run to go up, 19-8. The home team cut the deficit back down to seven at 21-14, but it was too little, too late, as the Mustangs picked up four of the final five points for a 25-15 win and a 2-0 lead on the evening.
After Harford took a 4-3 edge early in the third game, the Mustangs tallied six straight points to go up, 9-4. The teams traded points until Monroe's 14-10 lead became 19-10 with five straight. The Mustangs used one final run to close it out, picking up the last six points of the night for a 25-12 win and a 3-0 sweep of the Fighting Owls.
The Mustangs and Fighting Owls will see each other again on Saturday, Oct. 29, at the Monroe Athletic Complex for the Region 15/20 Championship match. The winner will go on to the Gulf Atlantic District Championship tournament in Alabama.
Yaliancis Flores registered another double-double with 12 kills and 11 digs in Tuesday's win.
Manon Braunsteffer was once again efficient, hitting .818 with nine kills on 11 swings, adding two blocks as well.
Leanisse Solano finished with six kills, eight digs, an ace and a block.
Francesca Andreon dished out a match-high 26 assists, while picking up six digs.
Laura Paniagua totaled 10 digs with seven service aces and three assists in the match.
Alessia Gallo matched Flores' 11 digs.
The Mustangs' last big road trip of the regular season will take place this weekend, as they head back down to Florida for five matches across three days at the St. Johns River College Viking Invitational in Orange Park, Fla. Monroe opens the weekend with a pair of matches on Friday, Oct. 21, taking on Spartanburg Methodist College at 11 a.m. before a 3 p.m. match against Andrew College.
ABOUT THE ATHLETIC PROGRAM AT MONROE COLLEGE
The athletic program at Monroe College encompasses a total of 35 teams competing across nine sports. There are 21 varsity and junior varsity programs, as well the Monroe College marching band and the newly added esports and men's volleyball programs, competing on the New Rochelle campus as the Mustangs (NJCAA Division I). The Monroe Express, based out of the Bronx campus, has 11 teams competing at the NJCAA Division III level.
For more information about the Monroe Mustangs, please visit us at
www.MonroeCollegeMustangs.com or follow us on social media: Facebook (
Monroe Mustangs Athletics), Twitter (
@Monroe_Mustangs) and Instagram (
@monroemustangs).
